232 AT THE NORTH OF BEARCAMP WATER. 
Even when night fell, as we entered the valley, 
the light which gleamed afar through the 
spruces told of hospitality as truly as the sleigh’s 
ample furs spoke of comfort, and the keen wind 
of health. 
We reached the valley on the evening of Sat¬ 
urday, December 19, and enjoyed every mo¬ 
ment of our stay, which was prolonged until 
Saturday, the 26th. From my journal, written 
on the evening of each day, I take the follow¬ 
ing account of our wanderings. 
We left Chatauque Corner (Conway) at three 
o’clock, well packed in the fur robes of a com¬ 
fortable two-seated sleigh and drawn by a 
skinny graduate of a race-course. It was an 
ideal winter afternoon, blessing an ideal North¬ 
ern landscape. There were the broad Saco in¬ 
tervales flat with snow, the pale blue sky with 
a fringe of cloud-banks, and between intervale 
and sky, mountains of marble and ramparts of 
dark evergreens. Straight up the Saco valley 
the immense mass of Mount Washington rose 
against the sky. It was wholly covered by 
snow. On its left, Moat, like a breaking wave 
of the sea, was close at hand. On its right, 
Carter Notch, with walls of dull purplish-black 
spruce, reached to where stately Mount Pe- 
quawket reared its dark cone on high. The 
Saco splashed in its rocky bed. Every boulder 
